Maurice-Marie-Emile Leblanc (11 December 1864 - 6 November 1941) was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.
Leblanc was born at Rouen in Normandy. After studying in several countries and dropping out of law school, he settled in Paris and began to write fiction, both short crime stories and longer novels; his novels, heavily influenced by writers like Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant, were critically admired but met with little commercial success.
Leblanc was largely considered little more than a writer of short stories for various French periodicals when the first Arsène Lupin story appeared in one of these publications in 1905. Clearly created under the influence of, and in reaction to, the wildly successful Sherlock Holmes stories of Conan Doyle, the roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise success and Leblanc's fame and fortune beckoned. By 1907 he had graduated to writing full-length Lupin novels, and the reviews and sales were so good that Leblanc effectively dedicated the rest of his career to working on the Lupin stories. Unlike Conan Doyle, who often appeared embarrassed or hindered by the success of Sherlock Holmes and seemed to regard his success in the field of crime fiction as a detraction from his more "respectable" literary ambitions, Leblanc does not appear to have tired of writing Lupin adventures, and continued to do so well into the 1930s. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur for his services to literature, and died in Perpignan in 1941. Most of Leblanc's work has been translated into English and some of this can be downloaded from Project Gutenberg.
Bibliography
Arsène Lupin series
N= Novel. Ss= Short story. C= Collection. P=Play
Arsène Lupin gentleman cambrioleur C (1907)
Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès C (1908)
[Arsène Lupin P (1909, with François Croisset)
L’Aiguille creuse N (1909)
813 N (1910)
Les Confidences d’Arsène Lupin C (1911-13)
Une aventure d’Arsène Lupin P (1911)
Le Bouchon de cristal N (1913)
L’Éclat d'obus N (1915)
Le Triangle d'or N (1917)
L’Île aux trente cercueils N (1919)
Les Dents du tigre N (1920)
Le retour d’Arsène Lupin P (1920)
Les Huit Coups de l’horloge N (1922)
La Comtesse de Cagliostro N (1924)
La Demoiselle aux yeux verts N (1927)
L’homme à la peau de bique Ss (1928)
L’Agence Barnett et Cie C (1928)
La Demeure mystérieuse N (1928)
La Barre y va N (1930)
Le cabochon d’émeraude N (1930)
La Femme aux deux sourires N (1932)
Victor, de la Brigade mondaine N (1934)
La Cagliostro se venge N (1935)
Les Milliards d’Arsène Lupin N (1941, posthumous)
Other works
Une femme (1893)
Armelle et Claude (1897)
Voici des ailes (1898)
Les Lèvres jointes (1899)
L’Enthousiasme (1901)
Un vilain couple (1901)
Gueule rouge (1904)
80 chevaux (1904)
La Pitié, Play (1906)
La Frontière (1911)
La Robe d’écaille rose (1920)
Le Formidable Événement (1921)
US title: The Tremedous Event
Les trois yeux (1921)
Le Cercle rouge (1922)
Dorothée, danseuse de corde (1923)
UK title: Dorothy, The Rope Dancer
US title: The Secret Tomb
La Vie extravagante de Balthazar (1925)
Le Prince de Jéricho (1930)
Les Clefs mystérieuses (1932)
US title: Man of Miracles
La Forêt des aventures (1933)
Le Chapelet rouge (1934)
L’Image de la femme nue (1934)
US title: Wanton Venus
Le Scandale du gazon bleu (1935)
De minuit à sept heures (1937)
English Translations
Arsene Lupin (1909) (with Jepson, Edgar)
also published as The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar (1910)
Arsene Lupin Versus Holmlock Shears (1909)
also published as The Blonde Lady
also published as Arsene Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes
also published as Arsene Lupin vs. Sherlock Holmes
The Exploits of Arsene Lupin (1909)
813 (1910)
The Arrest of Arsene Lupin (1911)
The Hollow Needle (1911)
The Confessions of Arsene Lupin (1912)
The Crystal Stopper (1913)
The Teeth of the Tiger (1915)
The Golden Triangle (1917)
The Secret of Sarek (1920)
The Eight Strokes of the Clock (1922)
The Candlestick with Seven Branches (1925)
Memoirs of Arsene Lupin (1925)
Arsene Lupin, Super-Sleuth (1927)
The Girl with the Green Eyes (1927)
Jim Barnett Intervenes (1928)
Arsene Lupin Intervenes (1929)
The Melamare Mystery (1929)
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